Just came across something pretty wild -- there are now ETFs that literally let you mirror what members of Congress are trading. Wild, right?

So here's the deal: politicians obviously have access to information most of us don't. They know what legislation is coming, what regulations are being drafted, all that stuff. And yeah, there's been a ton of debate about whether they should even be allowed to trade stocks at all. But for now, they can, and someone decided to turn that into an investment product.

Enter these two congress-tracking ETFs launched back in early 2023 -- one following Democratic trades (NANC, named after Nancy Pelosi) and one tracking Republican activity (KRUZ, after Ted Cruz, though it got rebranded to GOP later). Both charge 0.74% annually, so about $7.40 per $1,000 invested.

Here's where it gets interesting though. The Democratic-tracking fund has absolutely crushed it compared to the Republican one. Over the past year, the Democratic ETF was up around 20%, while the Republican version only gained about 15%. Even the S&P 500 averaged 17.75% in that same period. Year to date (as of late August last year), the Democratic fund hit 13.52% versus 12.73% for the Republican side.

Why the gap? Mostly because Democratic lawmakers seem to be heavily weighted toward mega-cap tech -- your Nvidias, Microsofts, Amazons, Alphabets. Those have been absolute rockets. The Republican holdings are more diversified, with bigger positions in financials, energy, and telecom. Less concentration can be good for stability, but it also means you miss out when the winners really run.

That said, I'm honestly skeptical about betting serious money on either of these. Yeah, politicians have an information edge, but that doesn't automatically make them great investors. There are plenty of proven index funds out there with way longer track records. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF has been rock solid for years, and it's way less flashy than trying to piggyback on congressional trades.

If you're looking for something more aggressive, there are faster-growing ETFs with actual decade-plus performance histories to back them up. These congressional trading ETFs are fun to watch, interesting as a concept, but I'd want to see a lot more data before I'd actually put real money into them. The track record is just too short right now.